First Muslim, Adam, Moses, Muhammad?
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The Critics allege a contradiction against the Quran and ask; who was
the first Muslim?
Secular critics such as the sceptics use this claim as well as
Christians though I would imagine it was borne out of the Christian
camp; it is used in evangelical Christian work such as GJO Moshay’s
evangelism [1].
The critics point to two references from the Quran, 6:14 and
6:161-163, and claim these references show Muhammad as the first
Muslim and then the critics turns their attention to another verse of
the Quran (7;143) concerning Moses being the first of the believers.
Just to further their agenda they may also highlight other Quranic
references indicating there were Muslims before Muhammed (pbuh) and
Moses namely the first man Adam (S. 2:30, 34-35, 37) and Abraham as
well as other Prophets (S. 4:163, S. 6:84) as believers. However they
mainly use the Quranic verse about Moses (7:143) and try to put it
along side the two concerning Muhammed (6:14 and 6:163) and they then
allege contradiction/error
The Refutation
Quite simply, the Quran does not claim Muhammed nor Moses to be the
first ever Muslim. The critic imposes a faulty understanding on the
Quranic verses and alleges a contradiction when there is no
contradiction/error.
Despite this it is still thorough and beneficial to offer explanations
in order to clear any confusion as well as help highlight the errors
of the critics in the hope they realise their mistakes and abjure
themselves and eventually become amongst the guided ones, Insha’Allah
I feel it is logical to begin this simple refutation with analysing
the reference concerning Moses and then we shall build upon this in a
methodical fashion so the reader can follow with ease. Did the Quran
claim Moses to be the first ever believer?
7:143 sees Moses saying he is the first of the believers. However, we
do see that this is true as he (Moses) was the first believer amongst
his own people.
7:143. And when Mûsa (Moses) came at the time and place appointed by
Us, and his Lord spoke to him, he said: “O my Lord! Show me
(Yourself), that I may look upon You.” Allâh said: “You cannot see Me,
but look upon the mountain if it stands still in its place then you
shall see Me.” So when his Lord appeared to the mountain[], He made it
collapse to dust, and Mûsa (Moses) fell down unconscious. Then when he
recovered his senses he said: “Glory be to You, I turn to You in
repentance and I am the first of the believers.” [2]
Moses does not say he is the first believer ‘ever’. He merely claims
he is the first of the believers and knowing the context one
understands he is not claiming to be the first ever believer from
humankind but the first amongst his people to believe, this is
apparent as it is a relative term to the “believers” and situational-
context tells us that the believers at the time of Moses were
essentially the Children of Israel and thus we realise that Moses is
referring to himself as the first to believe amongst the Children of
Israel.
The critic fails to mention this and tries to present this verse as
meaning Moses is the first ever to believe amongst humanity, this is
unfair and misleading on the part of the critic especially considering
the word “ever” is not in the verse. There is further clarification of
the Arabic phrase of the Quran ascribed to Moses (”awwalu
almumineena”= “first of the believers”) as there is another reference
in the Quran (26:51) where this term comes up and thus explaining the
meaning of Moses’ statement of being the “first of the believers
(”awwalu almumineena”).
So we use a basic principle of Tafsir (explaining the Quran) by
explaining a verse of the Quran (the verse concerning Moses, 7143) by
using another part of the Quran (26:51). So what do we learn about the
statement of Moses in 7:143 by looking at 26:51?
26:51. “Verily! We really hope that our Lord will forgive us our sins,
as we are the first of the believers [in Mûsa (Moses) and in the
Monotheism which he has brought from Allâh].” [3]
The context of this verse is Moses going to Pharaoh and preaching the
Message and with the intention of freeing the enslaved Children of
Israel.
The verse (26:51) is teaching us what the sorcerers of the pharaoh
said when they realised that Moses and Aaron were truthful in their
preaching. Thus they became the first to believe amongst the people of
Pharaoh and even use the same expression as Moses “awwala
almumineena”. It is clear that they are not claiming to be the first
ever to believe as Aaron and Moses (two people who were believers
before them) were in front of them delivering the Message to Pharaoh
and his people and they became believers due to the preaching
(miracles) of Moses by the Will of Allah. Therefore we realise the
term “awwala almumineena” (first of the believers) in the Quran
(7:143) does not mean he is the first ever believer but it is a
relative term. Thus we realise that both the sayings of Moses (7:143)
and the sorcerers (26:51) are relative to their situations and they
are clearly not referring to themselves as the first ever believers
but it does mean they are the first believers amongst their own
people. We also realise the critics build there argument upon faulty
information as well as error. So now we know that Moses was not
referring to himself as the first ever believer through the
information presented.
However, for thoroughness we can use the same method of Tafsir (i.e.
‘explanation of the Quran by the Quran’ [6]) to realise that Moses was
speaking relative to his own time and people. We need look no further
than the Quranic references to Adam (2:30-37) and we deduct that Adam
came before Moses and was a believer therefore believed before Moses
so we realise that the Quran is not presenting Moses as the first ever
believer but as the first believer relative to the time and place
Moses was in (i.e. the first to believe amongst his people). This is
basic Tafsir and logic which the critic avoids.
The critics have no authority (Tafsir writers such as Ibn Kathir etc)
to support their claims which are merely erroneous self-imposed
understandings based on ignorance of context and Tafsir. Now we
realise that the Quran did not put forward Moses (or the sorcerers) as
the first ever Muslim (s) we still have the question; did the Quran
claim Muhammed as the first ever Muslim? Well let us focus on the
references in question.
It is not up for debate whether Muhammad (pbuh) was the first Muslim
or not. Quite simply he was the first Muslim in the sense that
Muhammad was the first Muslim (i.e. who has submitted to God) amongst
his own people (the Quraish) at that particular phase in history. This
is completely correct. Hence there is no contradiction as Adam was the
first Muslim ever while Muhammad was the first Muslim amongst his own
people.
There are two Quranic references (6:14 and 6:162-163) the critics
bring up, so it is appropriate to analyse the two references. The
first of the Quranic references the critics cite (6:14) shows that
Allah instructs Muhammed to “say” (Qul): “Verily, I am commanded to be
the first of those who submit themselves to Allâh (as Muslims).”:
6:14. Say (O Muhammad SAW): “Shall I take as a Walî (helper,
protector, etc.) any other than Allâh, the Creator of the heavens and
the earth? And it is He Who feeds but is not fed.” Say: “Verily, I am
commanded to be the first of those who submit themselves to Allâh (as
Muslims).” And be not you (O Muhammad SAW) of the Mushrikûn
[polytheists, pagans, idolaters and disbelievers in the Oneness of
Allâh]. [4]
We also note the same applies to the second Quranic reference
(6:162-163) in that it also begins with Qul (say) and Mohammed is
instructed to say: “… I am the first of the Muslims”:
6: 162. Say (O Muhammad SAW): “Verily, my Salât (prayer), my
sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allâh, the Lord of the
‘Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists). 163. “He has no partner.
And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the
Muslims.” [5]
So we see that Muhammed is being instructed to say these words and we
can refer to Von Denffer concerning Quranic verses, such as the two
cited by the critics (6:14 and 6:162-163), which begin with Qul (say):
“More than 200 passages in the Quran open with the word ‘Qul’ (say:),
which is an instruction to the Prophet Muhammad to address the words
following this introduction to his audience in a particular
situation…” [7]
So the natural question is who is Muhammed’s audience for him to say
these words to? The audience were the tribe of Quraish. The Quraish
were Muhammed’s people (tribe) [8].Thus they were his foremost
audience. Indeed Muhammed was the first Muslim amongst the Quraish who
were a Pagan tribe.
Also we realise his immediate audience resided in Mecca as these two
Quranic references are form the Meccan period, this shows that
Muhammed’s audience was the Pagan Arabs of Mecca and the foremost of
these Pagans in Mecca was his own people, the Quraish tribe. Thus we
realise that Muhammad was to teach the Pagan audience in Mecca that he
was the first Muslim. This was the context and we realise it is
relative to the Quraish and thus refers to him being the first Muslim
from amongst the Pagans of Quraish. Note he was not instructed to say
this to Adam or earlier Prophets nor was he instructed to say this to
the whole of humanity but he was instructed to say it “to his
audience” (pg78) who were primarily the Quraish. How the critic misses
this context is not worth too much thought at this juncture, the fact
of the matter is that the critics completely miss the context and thus
fall into error and onto the thorny path of misleading others with
their erroneous claims.
Even not knowing the context one can realise that Quran is not
referring to Muhammed as the first ever Muslim as the Quran does not
qualify it with the word ‘ever’! However there is further unscholarly
work on the part of the critic as the context is again realised
through the rest of the verse (6:14): And be not you (O Muhammad SAW)
of the Mushrikûn [polytheists, pagans, idolaters and disbelievers in
the Oneness of Allâh]. [4]
This shows that Muhammed was instructed by Allah through the Quran to
speak relatively to his people who were idolaters/disbelievers
(Quraish) Interestingly enough 6:163 uses a similarly structured term
as the verse concerning Moses (7:143, “awwala almumineena”), thus we
can deduce that “Awwalul-muslimeen” is not a term used by the Quran
referring to the first ever Muslim and thus the context needs to be
applied. The context shows that Muhammed is the first Muslim relative
to his own time and place i.e. the first Muslim amongst his immediate
audience (the Quraish) who were the Mushrikun. It is disheartening to
see the critics would overlook scholarship of explaining the Quran in
favour of their own shoddy, misleading methodology of imposing their
own understanding on the Quranic verses they choose to use. If they
had an ounce of scholarship they would realise that their own warped
understanding should not be imposed upon the Quran as there is a clear
methodology to explain (tafsir) the Quran.
To further pour humiliation and refutation on the critic’s claims we
can refer to the two undisputed modes of explaining the Quran;
“Naturally, the explanation of the Quran by the Quran and the
explanation of the Quran by the Prophet are two highest sources for
tafsir, which cannot be matched nor superseded by any other source”.
[6]
So let us use the Quran to explain the Quran as “many of the questions
which may arise out of a certain passage of the Quran have their
explanation in other parts of the very same book, and often there is
no need to turn to any sources other than the word of Allah, which in
itself contains tafsir”. [6]
Strangely and worryingly enough we see the critics ignoring the use of
the Quran and the Hadith (of the Prophet Muhammed) in favour of their
own views. This is intellectual savagery and quite frankly a
butchering of the science of tafsir. Now we know the two primary
methods of explaining the Quran are the Quran and the Hadith (of the
Prophet). So if we use the Quran we realise that Mohammed is not being
put forward as the first ever Muslim as the Quran (elsewhere) refers
to earlier Prophets who are believers. Hence we realise that the
Quranic references (6:163, 6:14) do not teach us that Muhammed is the
first ever Muslim.
Now to use the other form of Tafsir we need not look further than
these hadith (from the Prophet Muhammed (Sahih Bukhari: Volume 4, Book
52, Number 290, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 555 and Volume 1, Book 5,
Number 277) to realise that the Muslims (including Muhammed) never
believed Muhammed was the first Muslim ever as he mentions other
prophets in the past tense and through the text we realise these
prophets are indeed believers who came before Muhammed’s time, and
these Prophets ( who were believers) existed before Muhammed on this
earth and believed before Muhammed as Muhammed had not even been born
at the time. So this highlights that the Quran is not teaching us that
the Prophet Muhammed is the first ever Muslim contrary to the fanciful
claims of the critics.
To further highlight the misleading vehicle which is the critic’s
claim we can look to the authoritative Tafsir (explanations) of the
relevant verses by the early Muslim scholars, strikingly enough; none
of them hold the belief of the critics! So, in essence, the critic
abandons scholarship, reasoning and research in favour of their own
clouded, ignorant and embarrassing methodology in order to level an
accusation of contradiction/error at the Quran. This leads them to
arguing a false point and attributing their own inexact, ignorant and
distorted views on the Quran and claiming a non-existent
contradiction.
The fact remains the Quran does not put either Muhammed or Moses
forward as the first ever Muslim. Nor does the Quran put forward
Abraham or anybody after the time of Adam as the first Muslim. The
Quran does not explicitly tell us who the first ever Muslim was but we
can deduce it was Adam.
Thus it becomes clear that there is no contradiction in the Quran and
we realise that the critics essentially show themselves to be
unscholarly in omitting the context or not knowing the context and
thus rendering their work misleading, confusing and full of error.
It is thoroughness to mention the other references a critic may bring
up despite these other references not impacting upon what has been
mentioned above, however it is still beneficial to know what the
critic may bring up such as 2:132, this Quranic reference does not
mention anybody as a first Muslim/believer here but critics would
bring this up to show Abraham and Jacob to be Muslims (i.e. Muslims
before Muhammed). This still does not impact on anything said earlier
as the critic argues a straw man and claim the Quran states something
which it does not. I stress again; the Quran does mention Muhammed or
Moses as being the first EVER Muslims. The context of the Quran is
clear, they (Moses and Muhammad) are the first to believe amongst
their people.
The critic also cites Quranic references about Adam (2:30-37). Despite
these references not exactly saying Adam was the first Muslim we still
know by the way of context and deduction that Adam was the first
believer in God amongst mankind. This does not impact on the reference
concerning Moses (7:143) who was the first of the believers amongst
his own people and nor does it impact on the references about Muhammad
(6:14 and 6: 161-163) who was commanded to be and indeed was the first
to submit to Allah amongst his own Pagan people (Quraish)
The other citations (S. 4:163, S. 6:83-87) the critic may bring forth
highlight to us that there were a number of guided people (Messengers)
before Muhammed. This is the Muslim believe, all Muslims are aware of
this so it should be realised by the critic that this is not knew
information to the Muslim. It is also important to reiterate; none of
this impacts on the fact that Muhammed and Moses were the first to
believe amongst their own people and not the first to believe (ever)
amongst human kind.
Also the more astute critics may point to the religion of Hanif and
followers of the Abrahamic traditions of the past, however the
teachings of Abraham (and Ishmael) became diluted with the gradual
introduction of innovations, superstitions and idol-worship.
Eventually ‘idolatry spread all over Makkah’ and thus the people left
the Abrahamic teachings [9]. This was many years prior to Muhammed’s
time so this does not impact on what has been said earlier either.
There are traditions of four friends who rejected the idol-worshipping
of Mecca and went out in search of an alternative, this does not
impact on the fact that Muhammed was the first Muslim amongst the
Quraish either.
Finally, after showing the critics to be wrong, it is worthy of
mention to bring up the concerted efforts of critics in the past in
order to find a critical claim of contradiction/error to stick
(concerning the Holy Quran) despite their past work and the work of
their contemporaries we see that they have failed and not found
anything which people can honestly call a contradiction in the Quran,
all this despite their best efforts.
Of course Allah knows best and we ask Allah do guide and help us
further. Ameen.
References 1. Anatomy of the Quran by G.J.O Moshay Chick Productions
2007 pg 116
2. 7:143 Translation and explanation of The Noble Quran In the
English Language, A Summarized Version of At-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi and
Ibn Kathir with comments from Sahih Al-Bukhari By Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-
Din Al-Hilali, Ph.D. and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan
3. 26:51 Translation and explanation of The Noble Quran In the English
Language, A Summarized Version of At-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir
with comments from Sahih Al-Bukhari By Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-
Hilali, Ph.D. and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan
4. 6:14 Translation and explanation of The Noble Quran In the English
Language, A Summarized Version of At-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir
with comments from Sahih Al-Bukhari By Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-
Hilali, Ph.D. and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan
5. 6:162-163 Translation and explanation of The Noble Quran In the
English Language, A Summarized Version of At-Tabari, Al-Qurtubi and
Ibn Kathir with comments from Sahih Al-Bukhari by Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-
Din Al-Hilali, Ph.D. and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan
6. Ulum al Quran, An Introduction to the Sciences of the Quran by
Ahmad Von Denffer, The Islamic Foundation 2003 pg 124
7. Ulum al Quran, An Introduction to the Sciences of the Quran by
Ahmad Von Denffer, The Islamic Foundation 2003 pg 78
8. Islam A Short History by Karen Armstrong, Phoenix Press, 2001, pg
3
9. Ar-Raheequl-Makhtum by Safi-ur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam,
2002 pg 45
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moz...@gmail.com
> I don't see how it explains it at all the quran says its clear about things but not so clear on this it says wot it says you can't change it by adding things that you think it means and goin to other sources that some muslim don't even use is bullshit jus anther pathetic excuse its a contradiction
moz...@gmail.com
as we are the first of the believers [in Mûsa (Moses) and in the
Monotheism which he has brought from Allâh]." [3]
As far as the rest...Im a little concerned you need to re-read the answer to this refutation again. That is if you read it at all.